Pedri: "We didn´t have intensity and we need to improve many things"

Self-criticism from Pedri

Among the most sincere was Pedri, who admitted that Barça was not up to par at any moment of the match, especially after the previous stumble in the Champions League against PSG: "We need to be self-critical, in the first half we neither knew how to defend well. We need to improve many things". The Canary player pointed out the lack of energy and clarity as the major problems of the team during the start of the match: "In the first half, there was a lack of intensity and quality, we didn´t know what to do with the ball, we weren´t at our level". Pedri did not want to make excuses or point out specific plays, such as the missed penalty by Lewandowski, which could have changed the course of the match: "Lewandowski´s miss can happen, you can miss, we need to be self-critical about the game". The midfielder also identified basic errors in the defensive setup and in the pressing: "The lack of intensity was very noticeable, we were pushing the line when we shouldn´t have, in one-on-one situations we didn´t know how to get out of the pressure". Regarding the refereeing decisions, the player preferred not to create controversy: "Koundé´s foul in the second goal tells me it´s very little, in the other one it tells me I´m right. If VAR didn´t intervene, it wasn´t a foul".

Balde: "There are no excuses"

Another who stepped up was Alejandro Balde, who fully agreed with his teammate´s analysis: "There are no excuses, today we did many things wrong and we have to learn from it". Despite the result, the full-back wanted to highlight something positive from the second half: "In the second half, we improved and could have equalized although right now we are in October and we have plenty of time to improve, it´s true that if we had scored the penalty it would have been different". Regarding the refereeing, Balde also expressed his disagreement with some decisions, although he insisted that it cannot serve as justification: "It wasn´t a penalty for Araujo and there was a foul on Koundé in their goal but I insist there are no excuses".

Cubarsí: "We need to focus on ourselves"

The young center-back Pau Cubarsí joined the self-criticism message and called for the group to focus on improving their own performance: "I don´t want to talk about the refereeing, we need to focus on ourselves". The Catalan defender was clear in highlighting that the team cannot afford more weak starts like the one experienced in Sevilla: "We can´t come out asleep, we need to improve and we have to press again like last season". Nevertheless, Cubarsí wanted to keep calm and emphasized that the season has just begun: "It´s just one match and we shouldn´t overreact, and it´s also true that we improved in the second half and had options to turn the situation around".

Unity and reflection

The defeat at the Sánchez Pizjuán has left a mark on the squad, but the common message among the players is clear: reaction and self-criticism. Both Pedri and Balde and Cubarsí agree that the team must rediscover the intensity and identity that characterized them last season to reverse this negative streak.